Was Golden Tate’s huge hit on Dallas’ Sean Lee illegal?

Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate delivered a huge block in Sunday’s victory over the Cowboys. In the fourth quarter, as Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson scrambled left toward the first-down line, Dallas linebacker Sean Lee was barreling down on the rookie.

Tate, who was downfield after running his route, saw Lee and came in hard, knocking Lee silly in what was probably the most talked-about hit of the weekend. With plenty of room after Tate’s block, Wilson crossed the first-down line and was forced out of bounds for a 14-yard run.

When Tate leveled Lee with 12:50 left in the game, everyone in the CenturyLink Field press box gasped. As did the entire stadium.

Lee hit the ground hard and a referee threw a flag. That figures, I thought. It was a violent hit high on Lee’s body, and the refs have been told to flag dangerous hits. NFL rules don’t allow for hitting a player in the head and neck area, and there are rules against leveling a player like that if he is deemed defenseless.

But the flag, it turned out, was against Dallas for unnecessary roughness after the play — for Cowboys’ linebacker Bruce Carter pushing Wilson out of bounds. The officials let Tate’s hit stand, and Lee was helped off the field after getting up slowly. (He is fine.)

“I knew that I didn’t hit him in his helmet,” Tate said after the game. “I knew that I hit him somewhere in his midsection. But the rules change so much that you never really know if it’s a rule this year or not.”

Well, now, the sports world is abuzz with debate about whether Tate’s hit was legal, and whether he’ll now get fined by the NFL. Was it a blatant, blind-side personal foul? Did Tate lead with his helmet? Was Lee defenseless? Or was it just a big hit in the physical game of football?

Lee himself didn’t make any accusations Sunday after the game. He said he was hit in the chest, not on the chin.

“It’s part of the deal. It’s part of the game. It’s not really for me to judge,” Lee said. “I’ll watch the film, but I know that can happen any time you’re out there playing hard. It’s not my decision to judge that.”

Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones thought the hit was questionable. After the game, ESPN reports, he said he expects the NFL to review the hit and possibly fine Tate.

“Lee is lucky he didn’t experience brain trauma on the play,” wrote Ellis, who pointed a finger at the NFL’s replacement refs. “Brain trauma. That’s literally what’s at stake. And while a trained official who knows all of the rules wouldn’t be expected to take a Golden Tate Bullet for Lee, one would almost certainly have flagged the play, the only real discouragement there is in the moment one player thinks about sizing up another for a dirty hit.”

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, meanwhile, said Tate is just an “unbelievably fierce competitor.”

“I thought it was a great block. I thought it was a great play,” Carroll said after the game. “I think everybody questioned that block because you thought that’s what the penalty was. I didn’t see the late hit out of bounds, but I was told that early on, so I realized what that (flag) was. I think that (block) was just a great opportunity, and he knocked the heck out of that kid.”

What do you think of Golden Tate's huge block on Sean Lee?

Wow! Great earth-shattering block! It was hard but legal.

It was a questionable hit, but I think the non-call was correct.

I don't know. It was borderline. I trust the NFL to review it and decide.